This means that 80% goes to professional fundraiser Prize Promotions Limited, for selling the tickets to the public in the name of Our Local Heroes Foundation.

Previously, Prize Promotions Limited was the official professional fundraiser for another “heroes” military charity – Afghan Heroes. On 17 December 2013, regulator the Charity Commission announced that it’d opened a “statutory inquiry” into Afghan Heroes. Statutory inquiries are the regulator’s most serious type of engagement with charities. On 5 February 2014, the Charity Commission stated publicly that it’d appointed an “interim manager” to Afghan Heroes.

The person who sent me the photos of the Our Local Heroes Foundation “prize draw” tickets had no idea how much of the £2.50 ticket price goes to the charity. He’d purchased the tickets from an Our Local Heroes Foundation stall at Oxford train station 5 May 2014. The ticket sellers in the charity branded clothing hadn’t disclosed the proportion. Nor was there any written information available – a leaflet, say – to take away. Similarly, when in February 2013 I encountered Prize Promotions Limited selling tickets on behalf of Afghan Heroes in a shopping centre in Stockport, the staff then couldn’t provide any printed information to take away. In the end, they resorted to handing me a ticket. (See para 5 in https://dralexmay.wordpress.com/2014/01/06/the-fundraiser-the-comedian-and-the-ex-cabinet-minister-the-tale-of-a-military-charity/)

“Andy” is another who bought Our Local Heroes Foundation “prize draw” tickets with no idea how much of the £2.50 ticket price goes to the charity. (https://dralexmay.wordpress.com/2014/03/08/prize-promotions-another-customer-experience/) Again, the ticket sellers in the charity branded clothing – this time in the foyer of a supermarket in Liverpool – hadn’t disclosed the proportion. “Andy” had to call Prize Promotions Limited, eventually getting the answer from director Luke Varley. He duly asked for a refund in disgust at only 20% and the company’s underhand manner.

I am seriously concerned about Our Local Heroes Foundation due to its use of professional fundraiser Prize Promotions Limited. In my experience and that of others, the staff of Prize Promotions Limited can be dishonest and lack integrity. The fundraising company isn’t always open and transparent about its work. It doesn’t even have a website for the public, only one to recruit ticket sellers (“earn great commision” [sic]). But there’s another reason why I am seriously concerned about the charity: how it works in such a misleading and opaque way with Prize Promotions Limited.

As it did for Afghan Heroes, Prize Promotions Limited runs “prize draws” on behalf of Our Local Heroes Foundation. Someone has kindly sent photos of a current ticket, front (Figure 1) and back (Figure 2). I have obscured the ticket number for privacy.

But there is an important difference: the current tickets, unlike the earlier ones for Afghan Heroes, don’t say how much of the £2.50 ticket price goes to the charity. Or how little: it was just 20% for Afghan Heroes.

Ticket-holders are referred to http://www.ourlocalheroes.org.uk for “winners, donations and merchandise” (Figure 1). Yet the proportion isn’t disclosed at the Our Local Heroes Foundation website either.

Julie Pearson is the public contact for the charity, according to the Charity Commission website. On 14 May 2014, I emailed her for the proportion (info@ourlocalheroes.org.uk).

Having heard nothing a week later (21 May 2014), I have today emailed her again for the answer.

I thought that Mr Weston should know about my experience trying to find out how much of the “prize draw” ticket price goes to the charity. It’s bad enough that the “prize draw” Terms and Conditions on its website don’t say. But Accessible Aid For Heroes also refuses to disclose the proportion on request, it seems. My 11 May 2014 email to Mr Fisher included a link to my 10 May 2014 blog post, “Accessible Aid For Heroes: Response that doesn’t answer the question”. (https://dralexmay.wordpress.com/2014/05/10/accessible-aid-for-heroes-response-that-doesnt-answer-the-question/) I asked him to tell me whether Mr Weston is still happy to be associated with the charity.

In a response today (13 May 2014) Mr Fisher wrote: “We do not know all the facts so [it] would be unfair for us to take sides. I will raise the issue with them though.”

On 6 May 2014, I received a response from Mr Kelly: “May I apologise for not getting back to you sooner. I have recently suffered a heart attack and in recover [sic]. We have appointed a fundraising agency BOL, and pay them a small set figure and use volunteers for all our collections. All funds collected or donated is 100% charity fundraising.”

As you can see, Mr Kelly failed to answer the question I asked in my 28 April 2014 email. On 7 May 2014, I replied and asked again: how much of the prize draw ticket price goes to the charity? This message was copied to the other three trustees.

There has been no response (at 10 May 2014).

It’s bad enough that the “prize draw” Terms and Conditions on its website don’t say how much of the ticket price goes to the charity. (http://www.accessnetwork.org/page/prize-draw.html) But Accessible Aid For Heroes also refuses to disclose the proportion on request, it seems.

Without openness and transparency, should we trust Accessible Aid For Heroes?

Consumer champion Martin Lewis is founder and editor of the MoneySavingExpert website, slogan: “Cutting your costs. Fighting your corner!” (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com) Millions trust the award-winning broadcaster and journalist for his impartiality and integrity. The Money Saving Expert has long campaigned against celebrity endorsement of what he deems rip-off financial products. For example, in his 15 May 2012 column in The Daily Telegraph, he criticised Michael Parkinson for advertising an expensive and opaque over–50s plan. Carol Vorderman has been another target, for endorsing a loan consolidation company. So it’s surprising that he himself endorses a military charity that in 2012 donated only 8.3% (i.e. £15 000) of its £180 564 income to other military charities. But it’s worse than that. Lewis’ PR agent is a trustee of the charity, Soldiering On Through Life Trust (SOTLT) – and the Money Saving Expert fails to disclose the fact.

On 5 April 2014, Lewis told his nearly 300 000 followers on Twitter (@martinslewis): “Privileged to present the Family award @soldieringontlt tonight. Honouring those who put themselves in danger to make the rest of us safe.” @soldieringontlt is the official SOTLT Twitter account. That night, the charity held its “flagship event”, the annual SOTLT Awards Night.

In his next tweet that day, Lewis provided a link to an article on the Mirror website, dated 8 February 2014, for “the brave story of the lady I will be presenting the award to”. The Sunday Mirror newspaper was a “headline” sponsor of the 2014 Soldiering On Awards.

But the Money Saving Expert failed to tell his followers that his PR agent, Murray Harkin, is a trustee of SOTLT.

Harkin is managing director of the Lyndon Agency, a PR and events company that bills itself as “The Money Saving Expert’s experts”. Lewis appears prominently at the top of its list of clients. (http://www.mhapr.co.uk/our-clients.php) Here SOTLT also is shown as a client, the Lyndon Agency “responsible for the organization of the 2014 Awards and on going press and publicity”.

We don’t know whether Lewis is paid to endorse SOTLT. Presumably not, as it’s a charity. But the public should know.

Even if Lewis isn’t paid, his endorsement is not a disinterested one. Not only does he benefit from association with a “good cause”. The “good cause” isn’t even independent, given Harkin’s paid PR role for Lewis.

It is easy to imagine Lewis rightly criticising a celebrity endorsing a charity for which his/her PR agent is a trustee. But I’m sure that he’d disapprove even more if the celebrity hides the fact that his/her PR agent is a trustee of the charity.

Here are seven further reasons why I believe Lewis, consumer champion, shouldn’t be involved with SOTLT:

THIRD REASON: Harkin’s conflict of interest. Trustees have a duty to act always in the best interests of the charity and its beneficiaries. (http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/trustees-staff-and-volunteers/trustee-board/conflicts-of-interest/) Yet Harkin as trustee of SOTLT has a glaring conflict of interest: he is managing director of the Lyndon Agency, which is paid for work it does for the charity. His decisions as trustee are therefore influenced by his own interests as managing director of the PR and events company. Declaring a conflict of interest does not remove it. That we can’t be sure that Harkin as trustee is always acting in the charity’s best interests undermines confidence and trust in SOTLT.

I believe that the Money Saving Expert would rightly criticise a charity that behaves in any of these ways, let alone all of them. So why exactly is he endorsing SOTLT?

Consumer champion Martin Lewis undermines his credibility by endorsing SOTLT. His PR agent is a trustee – and even worse, the Money Saving Expert fails to disclose the fact. On SOTLT, Lewis has a conflict of interest, which he doesn’t even reveal. The Money Saving Expert has long campaigned against celebrity endorsement of what he deems rip-off financial products. So it’s unclear why Lewis himself endorses a military charity that is such a bad deal for the public. Anyone wishing to donate to military charities should do so directly, bypassing this expensive, unnecessary and opaque intermediary.